Welcome to part 2 of Paris Brest Paris with James Gracey. This episode concludes James’s intense 1,200-kilometer ride filled with unexpected obstacles and unexpected friendships. Faced with numerous challenges, from illness to malfunctioning electronics, James’s determination powers him through, making his journey a testament to sheer grit.
Halfway through, with 600-kilometers still to go, he contemplates quitting but finds encouragement in the unity of fellow riders. Each twist and turn loaded with his physical and mental endurance eventually leads to the finish line. As he crosses it with newfound friends by his side, James’s story evolves into not just an adventure, but a celebration of camaraderie and the human spirit. Don’t miss out on this extraordinary account of grit and determination that will surely inspire.
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[00:00:00]Craig Dalton (host): Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport
I’m your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don’t need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist.
This week on the podcast, we’ve got part two of my discussion with James Gracey. And his Perry Brest Paris ride in 2023. If you haven’t listened to the episode last week. Press stop or pause. Go back and listen to that episode because we’re going to catch up with it halfway through. James is about 600 kilometers into Perry, breast Paris. Uh, 1200 kilometer ride from Paris to the town of Brest in France, back to Paris. Let’s jump right in midstream to my conversation with James Gracey.
[00:01:02]James Gracey: So the way out
[00:01:03]Craig Dalton: to breast is your first 600 kilometers. And this is a distance that you’ve now done pre once previously before. Yeah, I’m a, this is all you’re
[00:01:12]James Gracey: ready to go. So
[00:01:14]Craig Dalton: did you, did you sleep at all on the first six? I
[00:01:16]James Gracey: slept, uh, Lodiak is the, is the 400 K point. It’s also where the bag drop point was and so unfortunately one of the gentlemen that is Responsible for san francisco randonneurs.
He’s he runs the organization Uh, and I think he’s affiliated also with rusa He got sick and so he’s coming over to do the ride He has gone way out of his way to make sure everybody has what they we took 106 people from san francisco Which is a huge contingent bigger than most And he, his name is Rob Hawks, and he got sick, uh, like to the hospital in the emergency room, sick when he landed.
And so he had, uh, he had some hotel rooms in Lodiak that he was, when he realized he’s not going to be able to, to utilize them, it was two days before, and I was sick. And so I was up at two in the morning being sick. And I got. noticed that these hotel rooms were available. So, because I was sick, I was like, done.
I’ll take, I’ll take them both. They were both in Lodiak the first night and then the second night coming back. And so I did grab all my gear, my drop bag, go to the hotel, took a shower. And uh, lay down for like two hours.
[00:02:39]Craig Dalton: And we, so were you, was it going to work? The math going to work out that you were going to be in the same hotel the next night?
[00:02:45]James Gracey: Yeah. I just left my gear. Oh, that’s amazing. Yeah. So it saved me a little bit of time. So I didn’t have to go check in to get gear. Yeah. It, it didn’t work out quite that way because I was so far behind when I returned to Lodiak. I had to go to the hotel, get my gear packet, no shower. I changed kits. And went, uh, and had to go back and drop the bag because they’re leaving.
The bag drop people are leaving. That’s how close we are. And that’s one of the bigger problems with starting at the end. That when it’s at the end, if you start at the beginning and you fall six hours behind, no big deal. There are people that are, you know, twelve or thirteen hours behind you still. But when you start at the end and you get hours behind, you’re at the end.
And they are closing down the control station. Um, what was your,
[00:03:34]Craig Dalton: what was your kit set up? Like, it sounds like you brought two,
[00:03:37]James Gracey: two sets of. I had three, I had one for one for each day. And I planned on, I planned on changing them. And, uh, they were just my regular road. Yeah. But just for
[00:03:46]Craig Dalton: like general cleanliness
[00:03:48]James Gracey: and yeah.
You want to get out, you want to get out of that. And, um, like I was in my, my second kit for 40 hours or something like that. Um, coming, coming back. And. Yeah feels…
Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers event organizers and athletes who are pioneering the sport I’m your host Craig Dalton a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all
The mistakes you don’t need to make I approach each episode as a beginner to unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist this week on the podcast we’ve got got part two of my discussion with James Gracie and his Perry breast Paris ride in
2023 if you haven’t listened to the episode last week press stop or pause go back and listen to that episode because we’re going to catch up with it halfway through James is about 600 kilomet into Perry breast Paris a 1200 kilometer ride from Paris to the town of breast in
France back to Paris let’s jump right in Midstream to my conversation with James Gracie so the way out to breast is your first 600 km and this is a distance that you’ve now done pre once previously once before yeah this is all you’re ready to
Go s ready to go did you did you sleep at all on the first 600k I slipped LC is the is the 400k point it’s also where the bag drop point was okay and so unfortunately one of the gentlemen that is B responsible for San Francisco Rand andurs he’s he runs the
Organization uh and I think he’s Affiliated also with Russa he got sick and so he was coming over to do the ride he has gone way out of his way to make sure everybody has what they we took 106 people from San Francisco which is a huge contingent
Bigger than most other countries are bringing and uh he his name is Rob Hawks and he got sick uh like to the hospital in the emergency room sick when he landed and so he had uh he had some hotel rooms in lodc that he was when he realized he’s not going to be
Able to to utilize them it was two days before and I was sick and so I was up at 2: in the morning being sick and I got a notice that these hotel rooms were available so because I was sick I was like I’m done I’ll take I’ll take them
Both they were both in lak the first night and then the second night coming back and so I did grab all my gear my drop bag go to the hotel took a shower and uh laid down for like two hours and were you so were you was it going to
Work the math going to work out that you were going to be in the same Hotel the next night yeah I just left my gear oh that’s amazing yeah so it saved me a little bit of times I didn’t have to go check in to get gear yeah it it didn’t
Work out quite that way because I was so far behind when I returned to lodc yeah I had to go to the hotel get my gear packet no shower I changed kits and went uh and had to go back and drop the bag because they’re leaving oh backdrop
People are leaving that’s how close we are and that’s one of the bigger problems with starting at the end that when it’s at the end if you start at the beginning and you you fall six hours behind no big deal there are people that are you know 12 and 13 hours behind you
Still but when you start at the end and you get hours behind you’re at the end yeah and they are closing down the the control stations what was your what was your kit setup like it sounds like you brought two two sets I had three I had
One for one for each day and I planned on I planned on changing them and uh they were just my regular Road run kits yeah just for like General cleanliness and yeah you want to get out you want to get out of that and um like I was in my
My second kit for 40 hours or something like that uh um coming coming back and it yeah feels pretty gross so if you’re back in what was the town called LC LC you’re now have done 800k 800k so you got 400k to go yeah somewhere along the
Way I got a message from you that made it sound like you’re done I’m done yeah uh after after uh breast it was kind of evening beautiful sunset we’re leaving breast and I’d been sick I got sick the Friday before the ride probably because we were just out having oysters and lots
Of seafood and lots of pate and lots of stuff that I just didn’t agree with um or didn’t agree with me and so I was sick Friday Saturday and Sunday uh before the event and I just can’t keep anything anything that comes in that I
Put in comes right back out and uh then that continued for the first day anybody I’d ride with I would get in a Groove riding with them on the first day like two or three people and I might ride with them for 45 minutes or an hour and
Then I would say I have to go like I got to go be I have to go be sick and I would let him go which stunk and it kind of kept getting worse and worse and I’m trying to eat and drink as much as I can especially fluids and after breast there
Is a there are two secret controls you don’t know where the control is and it’s to keep people from cheating my thought was probably like yours is now why would you do the why would you sign up for this self-inflicted thing and cheat apparently it happens I don’t know why
You would do that just do the ride so in this in the second control the secret control I had had a fever and I have I can’t keep anything in me and I’ve super dehydrated and I even took pictures of like this dehydration that you can see
In my face along the way uh and I’d probably lost 10 or 12 lbs by that point is my guess from the Friday before I went to the secret control I got to that point where I tried to think about you know a month ago and two months ago of what are you
Going to do when you have all the reasons in the world to quit like are you going to push through and what are you willing to trade off for that for that at that time and I I knew the answer but I capitulated and I uh and I I went to the
Secret control um when I had a fever I was like my wife just texted me that the kids had Co I was like no I got Co that’s where the fever’s coming from and uh cuz we had just seen each other two days before and I was like this is you
Know I have children I have to get back I do not need to be in a French hospital for a month because I you know tried to tough it out and so I went to the control uh officials and I said I need to withdraw and uh I was really concerned
About the fever and and he he said he said okay what’s your number and I gave him my number and he said all right you would we’re going to withdraw you and I said what do I do and he said you ride to the next control you R to the next
Control and I was like I was like can I sleep I I was really tired can I sleep here and he said no we’re closing the other problem with being at the very back he said we’re closing in an hour you cannot sleep here and you cannot
Stay here cuz when we lock the doors you cannot be here I was like well the next control is car it’s 50 or 60 miles away I was like so if I quit I still have to ride this is at 10 or 11 at night and he
Said yes that’s what you do and I said well take my name off the take my name off the list I’ll decide I’ll decide when I get there if uh if were that’s still the case cuz I am close and I just couldn’t I couldn’t overcome thinking
Like what I’m risking and I just drank and drank I drank and I think I I think I didn’t have a fever I think I had I was hot because I didn’t have anything to cool me off cuzz I was just super dehydrated and so I kept drinking and
Drinking and drinking and then by the time I got there uh to car I laid down and I I think I sent you the video of like all the people laid out all over the place yeah it’s pretty amazing just like people just it’s unbelievable falling asleep with their head next to
Their food on the table anywhere laying on the ground anywhere wearing their helmets everything they had there were I didn’t see I saw one person with their feet in the street like on a highway like their feet are over the line and you’re like wow as you go and you move
Your feet somebody told me they saw a head over the head with helmet over the line like they just got over as far as they could go and they kind of fell over and went to bed and so I got to car and I laid down in the cafeteria on the
Ground with flies everywhere and for two hours and I woke up and I felt a lot better I’d had I’d had a meal I’d had a lot of fluid and I I was like at that point you know my plan was I don’t have to don’t think about what how far you
Have to go don’t think I’ve got another 400 miles or whatever it was you think I just got to get to the next control and then from that point forward it’s I just have to get to the next control whether it’s 70 miles or 100 miles yeah right I
Just have to if I can just get there and then I’ll make a decision yeah so you’re as you said before you started in a tail end group presumably everybody around you you’re starting to see like the really back of the bus we’re seeing the back of
Of even the people that left 12 hours before me are now back with us so and they’re in a terrible they’re in a bad way so are you are you riding with some of these guys and girls I’m riding with I’m riding with some of them and we had
Uh I mean had some pretty interesting ride baits for a while uh that I’ll I I wish them all I wish them all well I did get told at one point i’ had been been riding with this one uh uh Randon year that I was kept riding in front of him
And he won’t get on my wheel I’m like 40 feet in front of him 30 40 feet I mean he’s getting zero benefit but we’re he’s matching my Pace like if you want to get the benefit out of this you have to ride like right behind me I don’t know how it
Is where you ride but that’s what you have to do or you may as well just ride by yourself cuz I’m also having to talk loudly so you can hear it way back there and so this went on for 7 or 8 hours I
Mean a long time a long ride and at one point I got and this we went back and forth and back forth we’d kind of split up and then come back together somehow or I’d see them somewhere else and at one point we’re about to drop down into
A into a um control and I see I see on my Garmin that we’re about to descend for a bit even if it’s two or 300 feet I don’t want to come back up it if there’s no food there because it’s closed then I got to come back up because there’s a
McDonald’s right because you’re already feeling like you’re on the bubble of maybe not every control I’m like I don’t know how this is going to work out but it was getting better and better and I was like I told the group I said I’m going to that McDonald’s and I haven’t
Had McDonald’s in a dozen years easy cuz I quit I realize fast food is bad for you they were probably all like oh Americans they all eat McDonald’s McDonald the draw of the golden arches was too much was too much I saw people in there and
It’s just across the highway so I went over there and I got Big Mac and fries and a cat it was amazing and I sat down and then uh a Japanese man came in next I said you guys go ahead I’m going to eat I need to eat and I don’t want to
Have to come back up this hill to a closed McDonald’s maybe like I would be devastated it would be the end and uh then a Japanese man came in and sat uh he he couldn’t figure out the self kiosk so I walked him through it and then
While he was waiting on his order I said come down sit next to me he he didn’t speak any English he spoke a little bit and uh he took his helmet off and he soon as he sat down he burst into tears and I said I said it’s all right
Man like I’m in I’m in the same place I’m just not crying and I don’t know if he understood and he just the only thing he muttered was this is so hard this is so hard I said I know but you’re going to eat your meal I just had mine I’m
Going to sit here with you and we’re going to start together and you’re going to be fun and and that’s and that’s what we did right and he was like I mean he wasn’t had lost his mind but he was hurting and we still have a long way to
Go still and it’s in the middle of the night yeah and uh so then we left and when I got down to Vain was the next control the person that I had been riding with that’s behind me said the control is closed you’re screwed you not
He said the control clothes on I said well that’s I mean it’s fine I’m going to finish my goal was not necessarily a you know I would love to make 84 hours but I’m just going to I’m going to finish it and I’m not going to finish it
If there’s no food and I got to come back up this hill so I know where I need to be he said the controls closed and I said all right well I’m going to go and and lay down and get some get and sleep I’m going to sleep for you know 30 40
Minutes and he said well the control is closed why don’t you come with me and I said no you’re not helping me anyway and so I I uh he went on and then I went into the control and the control was not closed control was open and I
Think he just wanted me to drag him around drag him around I don’t know it was the only it was the only not super awesome experience that I had yeah and so I got my got my thing stamped and I was like there were some other people
There I was like I know I’m tired but did you just heard what I just heard there were some San Francisco guys there and he goes yeah he said it was closed it’s not closed Sor right maybe he was dreaming cuz somebody else later at another at I think even our last control
Control before last was devastated sitting there losing his mind because the control is closed and we’re like it’s not closed it’s right there it’s open he goes no it’s not like it is right there it’s open he goes he goes no I dnf I’m not finishing because it’s
Closed we’re like it’s not closed it’s right that’s it’s right where the lights are he goes what and it’s and then started muttering a bunch of stuff that made zero sense uh and so I got some sleep like uh 20 minutes and I woke back up and one
Thing somebody had told me before you before we even started any of this was your body I don’t know if I can sleep in the grass or sleep in the and they said your body will put you to sleep you will go to bed and your body will put you
There and they were right like you can go to sleep anywhere in the grass and rocks I have a picture of one guy literally sleeping down down the stairs like his feet are on three stairs away from his head and it cannot it can’t be comfortable but he’s sleeping he’s just
Asleep and so I slept I woke up and there were uh four uh sfr guys that were about to take off uh it was uh Ed Misha um Matt and then one and then one other San Francisco rander guy and I was like you want to ride together and we
Still had maybe 200 miles to go or two maybe maybe even a little more than 200 it’s so crazy like I can’t even get my head around like being that you know in the pain locker and then you have miles can’t think we don’t think we
Don’t ever talk about like oh we only have 600 more miles to go we have more miles to go yeah we just have to get we have to get to the next control we just got to get to the next control and we rode together through the night uh and
It was awesome it was one of my best night rides ever that of uh emotionally that I’ve ever had that it was awesome we were making good time it was a beautiful night we’re all laughing and having a a a good time we’re all uh fed
And we all have fluids and making stops where we need to stop and get a sausage or a coffee or whatever and it was awesome um and then we got to two controls to go and there was a storm coming in behind us and I’m showing them
On the radar like this is coming it’s really thin it’s going to like it’s going to blanket us with water and lightning for like 15 minutes so let’s get under that tent and go to sleep for 15 minutes and they said no I was like
Well I think we should stay dry I think it’s important because if you get wet after you know you’re going to get blisters it’s going to be very uncomfortable things are going to start rubbing you in the wrong places like you could have a whole host of new problems
Because you’re wet and it hasn’t rained yet yeah and so then they we traded like we compromised Ed was the was um uh did the most compromise he said all right I’m going to go get a sandwich and a coke you sleep I’ll wake you up in 15 minutes
And if it’s not raining we’re leaving and I was like done so he did that uh and Matt and Misha were all we were still all there together and uh they were stronger Riders than me so I need them so he kicked me to wake me up and I
Was like let’s go and uh it kept getting then it got light maybe two or two hours later so the the rainstorm did it materialize no it didn’t rain I told him it was going to rain and showed them the radar probably for 45 minutes I was like
I was on the ridge I came down a they’re stronger than me so they finished before me I was like I was on the ridge by myself the rainstorm is right behind us like I’m watching the lightning storm roll in and the lightning storm went around us like that and sounds like you
Just convinced these guys you needed a 15 minut 15 minutes yeah but they were they were cool with it and we all left together uh and we met up with another sfr guy named Noah who’s a really strong Rider and we were rocking through the middle of morning having a great time
Was this the most sympatico group you ever found throughout the time for sure yeah without them I wouldn’t have finished like if it hadn’t been if it hadn’t been for them and their enthusiasm to finish um like Ed had done it 12 years ago and didn’t finish it was
Misha’s first time it may have been I don’t remember about Matt um but they had a lot of energy and enthusiasm and like hey let’s all we we’re better off together than we are separately so let’s figure out a way to do this together yeah even though Misha was so fast and
He was in like TAA clip-ins he was so fast we would all start together and he would take off and we just wouldn’t see him again to the next control we’d catch up at the control or stop and then we would all leave together and he would he
Would take he’s like I’m just rid my Pace but he was uh had a great attitude uh and then maybe maybe four four or five hours before the Finish start raining and then the rain if it had rained two days earlier it would have been a different ball game
But because you know you can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel you uh You’re motivated and they they had stopped for coffee so I went on and they’re faster so I figured they would uh catch up with me at some point
And then I rode with uh I rode with one gentleman from um Thailand and one from Indonesia for a while that I think they’ kind of lost hope a little bit they were uh they’ missed their cut offs by a ways we saw people and were talking to people
That had their deadline their like time to finish is is literally within an hour and we’re 100 miles away and they all they could talk about is I have to get there I have to get there and like yeah just slow down you’re not making any sense you’re all
Over the road people were in the last 12 hours before the Finish people are not making any sense people are not speaking in complete sentences people that clearly speak English are not speaking not speaking English they’re making up things in their head and telling you about them like they’re real
And all they said the only the only cohesive uh sentiment with all of those people is I’m going to finish I’m going to like even no matter what they’re talking about rainbows and unicorns or shiny pennies or whatever they got going on in their brain that’s not working out
Because they need some Rodi Ola probably they consistently say this is one guy said this is the this is the time this is the year he said in like kind of French English this is the year I’ll finish yeah this is the year like like he had done this several other
Times and had not finish and he was probably 15 years older than me I’m 51 yeah yeah it’s so interesting I mean you and I talked about this a little bit on a bike ride one day just like even with Iron Man’s and different things that we’ve done I’ve always known the Finish
Line was there and within my capabilities but 1 12200 kilm in that time frame so much can go wrong whether it’s physically mentally mechanically so much can go wrong yeah like and some things just they beyond your control and it’s unfortunate uh and it’s it’s there are so many opportunities for something to
Go catastrophically wrong or just to eat up so much time you’re like I’ve spent six hours on the side of the road trying to fix this problem and it’s not fixed yeah and now I’m exhausted from trying to fix the problem and I haven’t made it a single additional mile yeah none of
That ever happened to me it does happen like I did see people that happen we had the event um in the end had about a 40% dnf rate which is they had 4,800 finishers out of 8,000 okay and was that because it was hot this year or is that
Pretty average I think that’s even higher than average I think the average is like 33 or 35 I depends on where you’re from some people dropped out cuz it was hot it was like maybe 90 the first day maybe maybe a little more than that 90 Fahrenheit and one guy I talked
To after the race was over he said I dropped out cuz it was too cold he was 80 one and from Thailand and so he’s you know it needs to be 90 for him to ride comfortably right not right not 80 and he said it was too cold it
Was way too cold and he just dropped out so you didn’t have any mechanical mishaps you largely you know you you you found yourself in The Hurt Locker physically at certain points but you kind of just did what you need to do right M you don’t know exactly what the
Answer is you you just know don’t go fast and hydrate there’s no reason to go fast and you can’t ride if you don’t drink yeah right so you didn’t you’re you’re shorted now within 50 miles of the finish line and you did mention to me you had some some issues we had some
Yeah so uh I I sent you a text at one point said I I think I just sent it to you I was like and my wife I’m like I’m pulling out yeah like back right after pressed and then we rocked through the night I mean we we slept for the last 37
Hours I slept maybe an hour and moved a lot like there was not a lot of sit down and we were working together well and doing it the way you’re supposed to be doing it and having like these really great feelings of camaraderie and and even though it’s a self-reliance like
You’re doing it with the friendship and comaraderie of others that are like-minded and close to the same uh physical capability and it was awesome and so I got to the last control in Drew and I was like I have 3 hours left and know it’s only 30k it’s like or
Maybe a little more maybe like 24 miles I have 3 hours I’m going to I’m like I was elated we had worked really hard to get there and had pushed for 30 7 hours almost almost on the bike the whole time and so I text Ted everybody I knew
Basically I was like I’m going to make it I can’t believe it like my brain is coming back together it’s not in the middle of the night you’re thinking all this weird stuff and I know what’s going on I’m uh I’m helping out with these these two guys that I’ve been riding
With and it’ been raining for a couple of hours but it’s only 24 miles so I sat down had a meal which was awesome and the two guys I was riding with only one of them wanted to continue they both missed their time cuts already and so so
One of them was going to sleep uh and I’d had a flat repaired they had a mechanic station there and I’d been riding a probably 10B flat for 10 miles cuz I didn’t want to stop and do it in the rain you got to get it all
Out and it’s like it would have taken forever and I was hoping that there would be a a a shop there and so we left and when I got my bike from the from the shop my garment’s not not working it just wants me to delete everything and I
Just turn it on turn off turn on turn off it’s like I don’t know it’s I’ve been following signs there are signs that say either breast or Paris the whole way there’s probably 20,000 signs on the route you try were you I’m just curious about this little detail it may
Seem super minute but how were you trying to keep your electronics powered along the way I had batteries okay I had a battery I had two solar chargers that were battery packs just in case like I kind of did it the wrong way I had three lights of just the the
Little Trail I forgot the name of the the brand but it’s a mount bike light that lasts about 4 hours on low so I had three of those just in case CU if you don’t have if one of your lights goes out and you get stopped by control you
Have to wait for it to charge before you can because it’s illegal to ride in France that’s right right and on the on this ride in particular you can’t ride without without a tail light and a headlight and and um reflective gear and so I had three tail lights three
Headlights two big battery packs so my bike probably weighed 15 lbs too much and and uh so everything you know is staying charged I’ve got the Garmin charg I a watch charge most of it it kind of messed up one day and so we leave and it’s not working and I said
All right well it’s not I can’t get this right and so you just follow the signs I’ve been following signs literally I I could have done it without a garment without directions at all until that point yeah and uh we had been warned that people will steal the signs okay
That as a souvenir so you get a sign they give you one of the signs when you when you pick up your just in theid people stealing them because then they would steal them all in the same place right next to the end right right because that’s where they all are
They’re done they go back on the course and they grab one and so I’m I’m riding with a uh a gentleman from Thailand and we’re following uh a man from France I don’t know where he was from in France but he didn’t speak any English and so we’re following signs following signs
And all of a sudden there’s no more signs so it’s me the guy from Thailand the guy from France and two people from Germany a husband wife team we realized nobody knows where they’re going nobody’s electronics are working there’s no I see Zero signs and you’re just in
Farmland and we’re like all right well how do we get back to there so we started all of us started going to a in a direction of that we thought and it got up there and it’s not it’s not the right way there’s no sign so we realized
Were lost and the gentleman that we were following because I’m just following you’ve been doing it for you know yeah 650 miles long almost 700 miles I’m following the guy in front of me and then the people he’s following cuz he doesn’t have Electronics the woman uh it
Was a husband wife team the woman has shermer’s neck which I’d never heard of until two months ago or three months ago what the heck is that and I’ve never seen it so at the very end I saw maybe a dozen people with it and it’s where it’s
A condition that you can’t hold your head up anymore so your neck muscles are shot and they’re not firing and all you look at if you’re on the bike all you’re looking at is your pedals you can’t even pick your head up to look past the
Handlebars you can see you can see your pedals your handlebar and your wheel but you don’t know where you’re going so if you have to take a right turn you can’t do it she is holding her head up with her fist under her chin that’s incredible and her husband is giving her directions
From behind her a little to the right a little to the left because you can’t really I mean she’s been awake for you know three and a half days and so we’re like we’re following the people with shermer’s neck and nobody has electronics and there’s no signs we
Don’t know where we are we don’t know where we are I can’t even imagine how demoralizing that would be it was pretty bad yeah uh I don’t have any I go uh I cannot get anything on my Garmin to work at all and probably it’s from like right
Now if I were in the same condition I would say oh you do this and this and this and like logic’s kind of gone out the window I think we’re going to miss the we’re going to missed the cut off I look to see how far this the the start
And finish town is rambay and I look to see how far ramb is and it’s I only had 24 miles from Drew to ramb well now it’s like 27 miles I’m like oh by by like Apple Maps yeah and I said I’m just going to ride
Back I don’t know what you guys are doing the sher’s neck and husband they left going in One Direction and we’re not going that way because it’s not the direction of the Finish town I don’t know where they’re going so we rode back to where we think we got lost and we’re
Riding around the guy that only speaks French is trying to get his gar to work we’re all worried CU he and I are in the same group we’re both about to miss cut off the other guy uh from Thailand had already missed it and I got on my on my my
Phone just directions back to back to the start Finish Line I was like I’m just going to follow this I said this is what I point to the guy from France I this is what I’m going to do you can come with me if you want and he said no
He said come with me come with me I said but this gets me there and this has me getting there 15 minutes late but I know you know it’s it’s doing it from a from a bicyclist perspective and I can probably go faster than that has me
There 15 minutes left plate but also it has like seven you know construction zone things going on I’m like this is I can’t believe I’ve worked all this all for the last three days and qualification and giving up time with my family was kind enough to let me do all
This and I screwed it up in the last like 20 miles yeah and I’m going to miss it I’m going to finish but I’m am I’m so close to to completing it in the cut off time yeah so we’re panicked and he said no he’s motioning just follow me just
Follow me so he literally starts going down a pedestrian path that no bikes are allowed on or cars cuz a it’s like a sidewalk going through Fields going in the opposite direction of the Finish town and I see it on my phone like we’re going the wrong way and he’s like just
Follow me and so I’m like all right do I go with Apple Maps but I don’t trust I don’t trust for many reasons or do I follow this Frenchman who is pretty emphatically saying follow me I I I know where we are and so I followed him and
We went maybe two or 2 and a half miles on pedestrian paths where Apple saying like you can’t be on this path and then we’re still going to get there late according to Apple we’re still going to get there late we’re still going to get there late and then finally we pop out
On this road and I see other cyclists so we’re back on the path and so okay so we’re back on the path but Apple says I’m going to miss my miss my time cut by 15 minutes still and so we’re R and I’m like now I now I see Riders and I just
Get I said look I can pull us just get on my wheel just sit on me and we’ll go as fast as we can we’ll go as hard as we can until one of us passes out and he ends up dropping off and I take off and
Then the path it still says I’m going to miss it I’m I’ve been riding for 20 minutes it still says I’m going to miss it and then the path that we’re on goes up a one-way Street the wrong way which Apple Maps won’t let you do and so as
Soon as I get to the other side of that it drops it by 30 minutes it’s incredible and I’m going as hard I’m like I’m head down going as hard as I can without blowing up everything I got until that point and I realized like I realized what has just
Happened and now I’m going to get there 30 minutes ahead of time and I breathe breathe for a second and still going hard and finally I catch up with these uh these guys that are sfr um Riders and I’m just like I’m about to fall over like can I just sit
On your wheel and they let me sit on their wheel with Hans and another gentleman and I sat on their wheel till the finish line and and got there in I was and then I’m super worried about the Frenchman who if it weren’t for him I’d
Be on a highway somewhere trying to get back to the start line following Apple Maps uh and if it weren’t for him and he’s in the same cut off is me so I did see him uh after he finished and he made the cut off and we we had a we had a
Tearful Embrace and it was I was terrified I was going to miss it and I have all these emotions and like I was totally fine emotionally until I can even see the Finish Line I’m like there it is like just let’s just go to it and then I got
To the finish line and lost it and burst into tears and my friend Ray is there and he’s like wow wow he he finished he finished in in 80 hours I think something like he really fast no he finished in uh 74 hours I think pretty
Fast yeah and so he had been there and gotten a night’s sleep and uh and I was just a mess and I’ve never been like that in a maybe my first Iron Man ever because I was you know I built it up in my brain
That it was going to be like this huge accomplishment and and it was it was it was incredibly emotional yeah understandably so I mean everything you went through to get there to arrive in France in the first place and then certainly everything you went through over the course of those 84 hours like
To finally like not have to stress to not have to you this pressure on you to like keep going and keep finishing and just where you can like you didn’t need to do anything it didn’t it’s done yeah it’s done throw the bike down pass out I
Couldn’t believe it and I made it uh I did an 83 83 25 I think so I had 35 35 minutes to spare uh so it was it was close yeah especially considering an hour before that I was not going to make it in the
Time cut off at all do you get the sense from some of the your other writers that you knew like Ry like did they get involved with groups that were like moving together throughout the entire course or Ray did for sure because he left at 90 hours and he said he he they
Had really good groups taking turns and uh and that’s that’s mean that’s a good way to go that’s you know it’s definitely is uh get you going faster with less effort um there were there were large groups probably probably a lot of large groups from the 90 hour group uh and
Then our group I never really saw time I would see there were at the occasional control or we’re leaving even just a a sandwich shop or something people would say all right I’m going to go and then two minutes later somebody else would leave and then 30 seconds later somebody
Else would leave and 30 seconds behind someone is’s no benefit yeah so we would have to say stop like let’s all in 2 minutes and there’ll be five of us together instead of five individuals spread apart and some people I think just want to do it on their own and
That’s just where their where their mind is and where their like kind of their game plan is I’m going to do it on my own like okay uh but I need some help I need to ride somebody else uh and they were I did hear I heard
Stories all I heard I heard story of one person that had shermer’s neck that put screws into her helmet and then tape taped the screws and then tape the tape back to the back of her bag in the back to hold her head up so she could see and
Then one gentleman I had breakfast with the next day from uh he was Irish he had he had a not terrible case of it but pretty bad I mean bad enough that he said he had to he stacked all of his spacers onto his head tube to raise his
Arms up so he could raise up enough to see it’s not the right position and he said at one point he was looking at his fork and he said he looked at it for two hours in the middle of the night he said that’s not my Fork that’s not somebody
Got somebody while I was sleeping came in while I was eating came in here and changed my Fork to this Fork that’s not my Fork who would have done that gone through all that trouble a lot of effort to change take my fork and give me this
Other Fork I said how’d you what’ you do do and he goes I had to go back through pictures and find a picture of me standing next to my bike with that fork to convince myself like oh I’m just not in the right place mentally to make decisions like this you know magical
Fork theft oh man and uh So Stories like that I heard a lot of the next day and a lot of shermer’s neck stories of people that can’t hold their head up and yeah and you could see I didn’t see any of I didn’t see any of this but I did get
Told people would come to the finish line and it changes pavement it goes from hard pack gravel to cobbles for 30 ft maybe to to loose gravel dirt in uh maybe 200 M before the Finish Line it changes three different Pavements and people would see the finish line and raise their arms
And celebration immediately fall to the ground because they have no control they have you know muscles aren on them or they try to raise their arm and said they would just see them like fall over and people then they they’ve now crashed you know 25 fet from the finish line
From no for no reason other than celebrating that they’re excited and they they don’t realize things don’t work anymore like muscles don’t work their neck doesn’t work their AR shoulders are all pinched and locked up and he said people are just falling over like oh person after person after person
Celebrating and they just crash and they have to go pick them up and then I kind imagine a kind of a worst way to worst way to end your 90h hour uh bicycle ride is crashing in the gravel and getting a bunch of rocks under your 100% so what
Do you what do you do after finishing you just go and crash somewhere and sleep for a day yeah uh I didn’t have a plan because I didn’t know I didn’t know what was going to happen uh I did have a vehicle there uh uh so I went and stayed
In the Barrack so they just just open up a big room basically in in one of the buildings and throw CS in there okay have Cs and like an emergency blanket and I bought some uh I didn’t sh I I didn’t I wasn’t really thinking right I
Ordered a pizza but I don’t think I ever went to pick it up then I went to go get change my mind to a steak and uh so I got some bottles of EV un rinsed off and went and laid down and then people I went to bed at maybe 10:00 at night
After having gotten there at 5: or you know just 4 5 in the evening and there were people that kept coming in for the next I was there 12 hours maybe I left at maybe 10: in the morning and people kept coming in you could hear them like
Shuffling around like falling over cot and they’ve been out there for at this point like four days yeah and uh or maybe even longer it depends on when they depends on when they left and because if you are it’s an out and back so if you’re 50 miles from the Finish
And you want to call it quits there’s nobody to call it quits to there’s not a control there there’s nothing there you just need to ride ride on in yeah and and they kind of got I think they were in probably pretty bad condition yeah I
Slept slept well and then I went and had more food I’ve been I’m still eating I’m still catching up on food and probably not fluids but on on food yeah um that it it just takes a lot of time to put it back in you to gain your weight back
Such an incredible experience and accomplishment having done lots of big events your Iron Man’s your lead vills where does Perry breast Paris fit into the it’s pretty high yeah yeah I didn’t think that at the beginning and then I told it may have been you that I told
Like the kind of the further I get away from that event um the more special it is becoming to me in my brain like remembering all of I probably have a I probably have a solid years’s worth of writing stories yeah in 3 days yeah and some of them
Significant some of them were like a very low point for me or very high point for me or just seeing something that I’ve never never seen I’ve been cyclist my whole life since I was 12 I never seen sher’s neck I know what it know
What it was I saw a dozen of them of people that I don’t know you know there were people that were definitely being dangerous at the end they don’t know they’re being dangerous like at one point we had to tell one uh one Rider to get away from us like you were riding
From the right line across the line to the left line on the other on oncoming traffic and back you for every you know 100 meters you’re you’re moving forward you probably did 300 meters of riding because you’re just going back and forth and it’s not a hill it’s flat
Flattish and it’s dangerous and so they you know they got they need to be able to stop those but when do you stop how do you tell an official you don’t I’m not stopping to tell anybody anything I’m going like we’re close I did hear of one gentleman that
Was there was just non-responsive 100% he’s standing there eyes open he’s not saying a word and he’s just comos yeah and they pulled him yeah is is what I heard and that probably is happen people are people are just it’s in their brains that they’re going to go and get this
Thing done yeah and they like I felt like I was really mentally prepared for it and these people are way more mentally prepared for it than I was cuz they they’re just not going to stop to probably to the point of being dangerous yeah but Ian there’s got to be a little
Bit of that in you just inherently in signing up for something like this you know as you said before you know it’s possible you’ve previewed in your mind the places you’re going to need to go and the pain you’re going to have yeah and you’ve said to yourself unless it’s
Going to hurt me physically or my family I’m going to keep going like right you sort of like made those decision you you make the trade in your brains already of what it is that you’re willing to give up to get to the next control are you
Going to do this yes or no and if you get to a point and you know the answer is no because I don’t want to you know be in the oncoming traffic yeah like if I were doing that I’m like all right I’m going to finish but I’m going to go to
Bed for until I wake up I’m not going to set an alarm I’m just going to go over to some grass somewhere and fall asleep and and then you can come back and you can finish might not make your time but you did it in a safer manner yeah I
Definitely got the feeling that some people are not they were it’s almost like the way that I have ever explained uh uh drinking alcohol to one of my kids like my kids are in young young teens so we talk about it I’m like somebody like you would never have like
My son would never have 10 beers 10 I mean 10’s a lot but somebody with nine beers in them would and it’s not you anymore like you are not making that decision anymore it’s the person with nine in them that’s making the decision and you gave them
Authority to make that decision when you had eight and seven and six and right and back it on down it’s the exact same thing that person if I showed them a video of themsel right now weaving all over the road they would make the decision to lay down and go to sleep
Yeah but it’s not them making the decision anymore it’s them plus 680 mil or 700 miles or even further and you know 3 or 4 hours of sleep in 4 days with this tremendous physical exertion and this tremendous physical expense uh so they’re not making that decision anymore it’s whatever they have
Kind of predetermined in their mind as their breakpoint and their breakpoint was pretty far yeah but that said I don’t I think I I did read an article that said it was an unsafe event like they all you put 8,000 people in a a bicycle all at the same time something’s going to
Happen it’s not going to be good and that’s just the law of probability like I don’t think anybody has died doing the ride in maybe the last one was 2011 or something and yeah that’s that’s not that’s not bad it’s not like people are dying on it
All the time or even end up in the hospital uh to my knowledge and for that reason I think it’s you know even though there are dangerous things that are happening it’s seems to be a pretty safe event well you think about the equipment available the nutrition like all the
Stuff back in the 1890s years ago it’s that’s one of the things that draws me to it to that specific event like I feel I feel accomplished as a rider for having done it and having gone through some Peaks and valleys and a couple of significant valleys for me like I feel
That makes you feel accomplished if it was just easy peasy and I sat on somebody’s wheel for 700 60 miles like I probably still feel accomplished actually but doing it on a what is probably a 40 lb bicycle probably with solid probably probably more than that it’s the same amount of climbing that
They did it’s about 40,000 ft yeah uh with whatever they had available to them and whatever I mean I’ve got heart rate and Garmin and I know the I know I see what is coming I see the hills that are coming up through technology I’ve got a relatively light
Bike that is you know probably one of the it’s probably fantastic bike for this particular event packs rain gear technical gear super stiff shoes all your bag of modern medicine I’ve got everything a big big top tube filled with brola and and salt tabs and like
Like all kinds of stuff I can’t imag imagine having done something like that 130 years ago and and and finishing yeah it’s unbelievable to me that I mean people had some grit to be able to to do that like what distance or what level of complication or elevation would you have
To accomplish now for it to be equated to that I don’t know I but it’s definitely further with a lot more climbing yeah right definitely to to match the same tenacity that they had to go and and say I’m going to go do that I it’s unbelievable
It’s unbelievable yeah it’s I mean it’s just like everything it happening every four years yeah the sheer challenge of what you undertook it’s just amazing congrats for making thank you thank you it was it was it was awesome I would love to go back and do it again with
Friends uh as you and I talked about it’s a difficult it’s a difficult event to do with a friend I think yeah because at some point if you’re one mile an hour off of the other one you guys you have to split up and go on your own um and for and that’s
The only reason it would be it’d be difficult it’ be fun to do the beves together it’d be fun to do the training together and’ be fun to make an adventure out of it together uh and be you know as partnered up as you can just
Like a cycling race and then when it comes time to like hey this is not working out for one of us the other one has to understand and yeah no I think you you just you have your own Journeys in these events it’s your whether it’s these big gravel events or Perry brast
Paris it’s just like hopefully I mean I think that’s the beauty of it right you you get to the Finish Line you’ve all gone through your stuff whatever that stuff was but you were out there together you saw the same things and you come back and you can Revel in that
Shared experience even though you weren’t riding side side yeah like the guys that I rode with the last day basically if I saw them right now might give them a big hug and and I barely know them but we did that thing we did that together especially at the end and
Uh and have that shared experience and can laugh about it and they all have their own lives to get back it’s not what they do for a living yeah you know it’s a it is a it’s a hobby it’s a it’s a good hobby it’s a athletic will help
You live longer uh but in the end it’s just a it’s a it’s something you’re doing for yourself as much as I tell my kids I’m doing it for them I want to be around to help you guys later the way I’m going to be around and stay fit
Amazing yeah thanks for sharing the story I’m thank you for having me Craig it’s Craig and I have been friends for 20ish years and uh and it’s I’m super uh happy and and really honored to be on your podcast I a lot of people follow
You and uh like even when Craig and I have been in different areas of the world people said are you Craig do are you Craig Dalton you have your body your gravel ride Jersey on and they’re like do you know Craig Dalton and one time
You had to say I am Greg dalon right like it’s uh so it’s it’s fun to be a part of that also thank you very much you’re welcome I appreciate having you um I was stoked to document some of this journey because I want your kids and
Family to listen to it and hear all your stories and all of our friends and hopefully everybody else out there will check out Perry bre Paris there’s a lot written about it there’s a lot of resources and you can see the journey that many people went on this year in
2023 yeah yeah thanks Greg Co awesome thanks man yeah that’s going to do it for this week’s edition of the gravel Rod podcast big thanks to James for coming on and telling us all about Perry brass Paris I hope like me you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the sport of
Randine earing and such a storyed event they have there in France I forget if we mentioned it during the show but it only happens every four years so it’s such a big deal to arrive at the start line and get to the Finish Line it’s definitely
One of those bucket list events I was thrilled to get James on the microphone to talk about it as I wanted to document his experiences so he could share it with his family first and foremost but also to all of you if you’re able to support the podcast please visit byy
Meac coffee.com theeg gravel ride or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated until next time here’s to finding some dirt under your wheels What